Elves (Race)
The ancient people of the Elves are believed to be among the first created by the gods, and yet despite other races' admiration and awe of the elven people, they remain an enigma for many. With a strong affinity for magic and a deep, spiritual connection to the natural world around them, elves are master artists, skilled craftsman and are just as graceful in the arts of war as they are in dance and horsemanship. The paradoxical nature of the elven people causes many to call them haughty or arrogant, but in truth their longevity has opened there eyes to both the beauty and the horrors of the world, and they have gained the wisdom to both combat the darkness and preserve the light. Overview The elves, regardless of their particular heritage (see Ethnicities, ''below) they are viewed by other races as a highly magical, mysterious and wondrous people. This awe and respect has an unexpected corollary—many people view elves as haughty and shamelessly introverted as a race. The reasons for this are broad; they range from jealousy, to fear, to even religious hatred. It’s the nature of the elves to elicit such reactions from others, for it seems impossible upon first encountering the elves to react with anything resembling disinterest or apathy. Even though they are slow to form true friendships, elves generally find it prudent to behave politely toward others, because they know that grudges can last for centuries. Thus, unpleasantness avoided is an enemy not made. This part of their nature combined with their almost supernatural beauty tends to endear them to other races, most of whom find elves pleasant and amusing companions, if a bit aloof and overly meticulous. Elves live such a long time that non-elves often wonder why they aren’t all expert swordsmen, powerful enchanters, master thieves, expert artists or all of them at once. One answer is that elves measure success differently from other peoples. Crushing enemies and amassing vast quantities of wealth are not worthwhile goals in themselves for most elves. Success is only found inward. '''Physical Attributes' Short and willowy compared to humans, elves move and think quickly, though not impetuously. Elves are recognizable by their considerable physical beauty, grace, stylish dress, pointed ears and large, colorful eyes. Elves, in general, are fair-skinned with eyes colored blue, green, gold or violet. Brown eyes, while not impossible, are rare. Their hair, which they often wear long and usually with braids or ornamentation, can range any color from yellow, to brown, to black, to red; any color of the autumn leaves. Also possible are silver or green hair, though these are exceptionally rare. Those born with silver or green hair are taken special note of. However formidable they might be, especially with their speed and strange magics, they are relatively frail compared to humans and suffer more readily from poisons and punishing blows. Senses Larger pupils allow much more light into an elf’s eye, giving them sharper vision. They have a natural attentiveness that allows them to spot movement or irregularities in patterns much easier than a human or dwarf. The elven eye is extremely keen in low-light conditions; they can see by starlight as well as a human can see during a cloudy afternoon. As a result, an elven home is frequently bright and airy during the day but dark at night, as they rarely bother lighting their structures in the evenings. At best, they make do with a single candle or, more preferably, several friendly fireflies. Hospitable elves will often brighten an area if they expect non-elf visitors, but a few outsiders have learned to use provided light levels to gauge the true feelings of an otherwise polite elven host. Some say an elf can tell a tree’s type from the sound of a leaf falling. Fine elven hearing is thought to be a function of their ear’s shape; the long, pointed auricles funnel sound to the ear canals, allowing them just a little more warning than humans when trouble is afoot. Elven hearing is so accurate that they can shoot targets in the dark just from their breathing. Emotions Mercurial and detached, somber and bemused, the famed elven aloofishness occurs for many reasons. Long life generally forces them to distance themselves from non-elves--those who maintain too close a relationship with members of the transient races quickly become burdened with the deep melancholy of the Forlorn (elves cast out of elf society). Still, once elves reach a level of comfort with a person, they drop their guarded demeanor and become friendly. Elves value friendship highly, and they stick by their friends with a loyalty sometimes exceeding the familial bonds of other races. Elven emotional extremes are a product of too many memories and associations. A rainstorm can remind an elf of a hundred good and bad experiences, a mix so complex that not even elves can predict what emotion will take the forefront, a beautiful thought to them. This is perhaps the deepest reason for the elves' frequent laughter among others of their kind: it is a concerted effort to think positively despite any negative emotion filtering up from the deep wells of recollection. With thousands of memories jostling for primacy at every trigger, elves tend to focus on the good ones and filter the bad ones from their public reaction. An elf's lifetime of sorrow and regret is literally a maddening prospect, and elves that allow themselves to dwell on past misery tend to become locked in a spiral of depression and self-doubt; often they require the intervention of other elves and sometimes even magic to steer them toward happiness again. Elven Culture Elven life is so ancient and layered that some reason for celebrating or mourning can be found any day or time of day. Longevity Elves do not suffer the ravages of age the way other races do. Though it’s still possible to read their relative ages in their faces, with the most ancient elves possessing a more handsome, ethereal look than the girlish appeal of an elf in her low hundreds, all remain unquestionably beautiful. The full measure of an elven lifespan can last hundreds—often more than a thousand—years. Of course, elves can and do expire from mortal wounds and disease. Their extended lifespan allows them to take the long-view in nearly every endeavor; their lifespan causes elves to spend a great deal of time simply observing. Elves rarely hurry, preferring to take the time to contemplate an action and its potential consequences before committing to it. Though other races often argue that elves allow opportunities to pass them by, the elves know that opportunities nearly always come again, given enough time and that an opportunity seized by foresight can turn out to be mistakes. Taking the long view means that elves, though generally pleasant to others, take a long time to make friends or enemies, and they remember both favors and slights for centuries. Trusting others comes hard to the self-sufficient elves and trusting individuals of other races is particularly difficult, because they know that the shorter lifespans of other races give them a much more limited viewpoint and make them prone to hasty actions. They have a proverb for this: “You can make amends for waiting too long, but you can never wait longer once you’ve acted”. This stance sometimes seems at odds with apparently reckless behavior on their part, yet elves’ apparent disregard for consequences on occasion is another sign of a long life. Creatures who have seen much draw from deep wells of personal experience; what seems like a half-cocked leap off a cliff is actually behavior informed by a dozen other cliffside experiences. In less dramatic circumstances, elves tend to fret less about short-term consequences. A 5-year setback is more nuisance than crushing defeat for an elf. Centuries of life leads elves to ignore small details. They take few things too seriously, as even the direst circumstances change in time. Though some might see them as somber and stoic, this is more an issue of differing senses of humor, and elves laugh often at jokes shorter-lived persons wouldn’t have the perspective to understand. Long life has a dark side, though, as many elves succumb to vanity and pride, though more at a racial level than an individual one. Sleep Unlike other humanoids, elves do not require sleep in the same capacity. An elf only needs to rest and relax in a meditation known as “the Trance” for four hours per day. In this state, their physical and spiritual selves become one. They dream, as other races do, but they do so in a much more tangible way; elves dream lucidly and often vividly recall their dreams upon waking. This has a strange side-effect: elven communities never really change in activity level. The length of the Trance allows most elves to enjoy periods of activity approaching 18-20 hours in a single day. In combination with their incredibly long lifespans, the Trance means that elves can afford to take their time with their projects. Culture The You and the We Elves revel in a dual nature. Their love of paradox makes them seem mysterious to other races, but elves do not see themselves as mysterious or exotic. It is the world of people who want things to be done one way or another that puzzles them. The main paradox elves embrace is an idea they call "The You and the We". Outsiders must understand it before they can truly know the elven mind. Young elves learn it in the cradle. It tells them that they must balance their own identity with their obligations to the community. An elf's duty to themselves is to always strive to explore their own identity, to pursue experience, and to delve into the depths of their own soul. His obligation to community is to live in partnership with others and to support their quests for inner knowledge. These two things are not contradictory. Without a community to clothe, feed and comfort her, an elf can't enjoy the physical security they need to pursue her own inner quest. Without knowledge of her own inner spirit, the elf has nothing to contribute to her community. To master the principle of "The You and the We", an elf must make herself truly individualistic, but without a trace of selfishness. Nonspecialized Communities Elf communities are far less structured than the settlements of more lawful creatures. Though they tend to be loose aggregates of individuals rather than orderly clan holdings, their residents still share common goals and work together when needed. Traditions are guidelines, not rules, and new ideas that offer better methods of managing group life are always welcomed. Unlike the communities of almost any other humanoid race, elves are for the most part nonspecialized. That is, no one pursues a profession to the exclusion of all others. There is no butcher, no baker, no weaponsmith and no armorer. Rather, every citizen finds or makes what he needs on his own. Because of their nearly complete self-sufficiency, elves rarely need to buy anything from anyone else. Thus, there is little need for money in elf society. Most elves have a few coins that they gained in their travels just in case, but most elves can get along perfectly fine with no money at all inside his own community. To an, there is far more value in beauty than in currency. Despite the fact that anyone can take care of their own basic needs with a community, a degree of specialization does creep in simply because certain elves prefer certain activities and become better at them than other elves. For example, one elf might have a passion for designing and building homes, while another prefers to produce clothing. Language The tongue of the elves, called Sindari by the elves, has surprisingly little variation between ethnicities. A speaker of the tongue can understand an elf from the glistening spires of Sindarduin the same as they understand a tribe of Green Elves from the humid, misty jungles of Evaaruna. That’s not to say there are not dialects, of course; certain elves structure their sentences slightly different, or choose to use different words or names for things. Thus, most things have a handful of different names and titles, depending on the clan or ethnicity of the elf in question. When spoken in a proper accent, Sindari is described (by the more poetically-inclined) to sound like silver sliding across a harpstring. The language itself is beautiful and melodious, and is spoken in a sing-song style when spoken properly. However, according to most purists, even most elves can't get it right. Any humanoid creature with vocal chords, however, can do a passable job. Elven is derived from the ancient Sylvan language, which is still spoken today by fey and elven clergy. Many elves learn the Sylvan tongue, as well. Elven shares a basic script with Sylvan, but the ancient tongue is much more complex and wordy than Elven. The grammars of each language are notably different (as many describe Elven translated directly as sounding like "caveman-barbarian" speech). Magic Though gnomes may have an innate knack for parlor tricks, no race in Athas takes so well and so thoroughly to the study of magic as the elves. Even those elves not among the high elves spend decades mastering the arcane teachings, with a focus on theory, allowing their magic to be almost overwhelmingly detailed and complex. Even creatures who are naturally resistant to magic have trouble dealing with the magic of the elves. Elves' famed resistance to enchantments, on the other hand, stems not from magical study but from their elemental love of freedom. Elves kept in slavery often rebel or force themselves into a stupor until they are eventually abandoned, or else succumb to despair. In elven society, enchantments are frank insults, suggesting the target is weak and easily manipulated. Art and Music Unlike dwarves, elves value art for its own sake. An object of art need not be anything but beautiful to be prized in an elf community. The elves also find joy in turning mundane objects into things of beauty. Strictly utilitarian objects are fine in an emergency, but why not make them beautiful as well? To create a functional object with no beauty is considered unforgivably lazy and wasteful to both time and resources. Music is strongly loved and respected among the elves. According to their beliefs, the world came into being through the intricate song of the Creator, and it is through music unknowable that the universe continues on. Singing and music are common in elf communities, and all elves share a love of song. A few other races have oral traditions almost as rich as those of the elves, but Correlon's folk have made a true art of writing. Their flowering script and lyrical language frame poetry and prose on inestimable beauty, filled with a depth of emotion rarely seen in shorter-lived races. The elves live long and see much, but rather than hardening them, their experiences serve to enrich their souls. Only though writing does their depth of feeling become truly obvious; they tend to take care what they say aloud, particularly among outside. All elves find great joy in turning the mundane into the magical and the normal into the brilliant, and any effort to bring art into harmony with nature is a noble one. Architecture Elven architecture, even without the common magical enhancements that many carry, are beautiful sights indeed. To an elf, a building is little different than a mountain or a tree. They strive to fashion their homes and structures in such a way that they blend completely with their natural surroundings, adding to the beauty and purity of the environment rather than detracting from it. The squat, functional buildings constructed by most humans strike elves as ridiculous and intrusive. Doors are of particular interest. Traditional elven architecture blends into nature, and as a result external doorways into elven structures are often cleverly disguised in the side of a large tree, as a large stone on the side of a hill, and so on. Elven children quickly become quite practiced at finding and noticing such doors, and this skill follows them into adulthood. “Secret” doors built by other races often amuse the elves with their crude attempts at disguise. Warfare Elves of all walks of life consider war a last resort for resolving disputes. Though they are by no means cowardly, they know they can expect to live for hundreds of years and they are loath to risk their lives over petty issues. Since virtually all elves can agree on this point, they never go to war with themselves. Not all sentient beings share the elves' live and let live credo, however. Tribes of orcs, renegade dwarves and even imperialistic humans have long coveted the elves' lands and resources and many have tried to seize hold of them by force. Thus, even the peace-loving elves must have adequate defenses for their settlements. Though the elves are generally regarded as a peace-loving people, their history is filled with bloodshed and terrible wars to rival any other race. Even today, all elves spend their formative years training with the traditional weapons of their people. The elves are always ready to defend their home with magic and with steel should the need arise. Despite this, elves do not succumb to feral savagery in their training. They view combat and other martial activities as yet another face of the natural world, and no less deserving of their careful attention and respect. As a result, the elves treat combat almost as a masterfully choreographed dance. Given the elves' legendary skill and accuracy with bows of any shape and kind, this is generally a fruitful and much-feared tactic. They often strike from trees or otherwise hidden in the natural surroundings. Elven culture does not demean the bravery of a warrior who drops enemies from afar. After all, allowing a larger and stronger foe to engage in melee combat is folly, not courage. Foes that manage to threaten an elf at melee range are usually met with a flashing longsword or thrust of a sturdy, elegant spear. Most elf settlements augment their defenses with arcane or divine magic. Alarm spells and Consecrate proves throughout their homeland warn of the approach of intruders and provide soldiers the ability to fight more effectively against undead and other purely evil creatures. Life Cycle Birth Elves are fertile from around 20 years old until about their 550th birthday, give or take a decade or two. The elven fetus gestates for approximately twelve lunar cycles. During pregnancy, the mother develops a bond with the developing child; at around six months, the child's budding consciousness reveals itself to its mother. Over the coming cycles, the mother gradually begins to sense what kind of person her child will become. The twin principles of individuality and unselfishness ring through every significant event in an elf's life, starting with his birth. Elves, who always strive for harmony with nature's pattern, celebrate birth as the beginning of a new cycle of life. No event is holier than the birth of a child. Elven mothers do everything they can to deliver their babies in the community they themselves were born in. This custom of returning breathes new life into a community, reconnecting it to the forces of renewal that keep the world turning. A mother who was herself born away from an elven community will return, if possible, to the village where she was raised. Failing that, they will return to the birthplace of one of her parents. In emergencies, any community will do (elven communities are preferred). Where none is available, birth in the wilderness is accepted as a viable alternative. Elves born outside in this way often have a stronger affinity for nature than others, and they can hear the whispers of the rocks and the trees. Many elves born in the wilderness become rangers or druids. She selects a name for the growing baby, which it recognizes and accepts. The name is kept secret until the moment of the child's birth. The birthing experience serves as the climax of a great communal celebration. Every member of the community encircles the mother-to-be, joyously singing the ancient chants handed down to them by their goddess. Both women and men, young and old, attend the ceremony and witness the miracle of being. They behold it with neither shame nor revulsion. Elves recoil at the suggestion that birth is somehow unclean, or that they should be kept hidden from the world. Elven births are easier on their mothers than those of other races; they suffer little pain. The exception is if the baby is half-elven: the nine-month pregnancy, absence of a pregnancy bond and complicated births can be agonizing for mother and are often dangerous. Elven birth mortality is next to negligent, while half-elven mortality rates are nearly 50%. Elves almost always retain vivid memories of the moment just after they emerge into the world, when they are held up for the community to see. They remember the special song their new neighbors sing for them (often one of the father's unique composition) and they will remember the melody for their entire existence. An elf's memories of childhood (the next twenty years or so) are rarely so clear. Childhood is a time of play and exploration, all carried out under the watchful eyes of the community's adults, who are keenly aware of the hazards lurking in even the most tranquil natural setting. Although elves value direct experience over second-hand learning, there are certain things that can only be taught. Although there are some slight differences between the outlook of elven men and women, these are tendencies, not enforced rules to which children are expected to adhere. A child is neither pressed into learning a family trade or adopting its artistic traditions. In elven culture, lines are meant to be blurred, and distinctions are but a thing of temporary convenience and of little real importance. Coming of Age The life milestone known as coming of age is different for elves than other races, for it is not measured by physical maturity. An elf is physically mature around the age of 20 or 25, though they have a monumental lack of experience that means other elves see them as “in their spring”. Instead, the term applies to their spiritual maturity. To be considered “in their summer”, the elf must experience The Brightness (see below). This typically occurs between the ages of 100-120, though this is not the case with every elf. In the rare case that the elf does not experience the Brightness at all, they are considered “in their summer” by around 130 or so. Love and Physical Expression Elves from all walks idealize the concept of romance as much as humans do, if not more so. Songs, stories and poems are dedicated to this powerful force in every generation. Nevertheless, to elves, love is more frightening and fascinating than it is to humans. Young elves often seem fickle to other races because they are able to move from one partner to the next without suffering the pangs of separation or unrequited love. Casual liaisons are a common and accept part of social interaction. An elf might have partnered with a large number of contemporaries in her community and feels no lingering shame or awkwardness in their presence. They might fondly recall the joys of an old rendezvous, but give it no more weight than they would the recollections of a delightful shared meal or a satisfying day of tree climbing. Elves hold no double standards in their games of coupling and uncoupling. Males and females are both encouraged to fully express their physical yearnings. Young females can blithely pursue their infatuations because the extremely low fertility rate makes the possibility of pregnancy highly unlikely. Children born out of wedlock, though rare, face no special prejudice in an elven community. Other races generally consider the sexual freedom of the elves shocking, fickle and endlessly fascinating. The folk tales and rumors they repeat are much more scandalous and colorful than anything that actually occurs. To an elf, that kind of expression is just one item on a long list of experiences that everyone should explore in the course of forging an identity. Experimentation with a range of partners is no more or less odd than tasting the juice of a dozen different berries, following the path of plume-seeds as winds carry them through the trees or learning the secret names of the forest's animals. Still, a young elf's exploration of love and lust should be as complete as any other quest he or she embarks upon. When an elf does ''feel true love, they feel it completely and wholly. Rendezvous become less desirable as devotion and time with the person they love. While it can take a considerable amount of time for both parties to find the time and inclination, marriage is certainly not uncommon in the world of the elves. Elven marriage ceremonies, while differing by culture, tend to be stately and beautiful, often lasting for weeks. Poetry recitations, musical performances and theatrical events all retell the great love stories in elven lore. Non-elves find the protracted dignity of these occasions unbearable. The wild debauchery that begins after the ceremony, however, might surprise them. Though they prefer to stay close together, married couples are capable of spending long periods of time--decades or even a century--apart. The feeling of connection that they share makes a missing partner feel close at hand, even when she is far away. '''Death and Dying' Beginning around an elf's sixth century, they enter “into their autumn”; her blood begins to slow, her thoughts start to cloud and her bones grow tired. Elves train themselves all their lives to accept death as an inevitable and integral part of life's cycle. Even so, they usually find it hard to adjust to the dimming of their senses, which makes it harder for them to experience the beauty and joy in the world around them. An elf’s autumn years are often melancholy ones. She might spend them composing her memoirs in epic verse, hoping that her descendants will memorize and repeat them for generations to come. She might retreat to a hermitage or isolated cave to contemplate the nature of existence. A very few misguided souls turn to blackest sorcery to extend their lives. But most surround themselves with their fellow villages and loved ones, trying to impart the wisdom they've gained and take heart in the laughter of children. An elf enters into their winter during their seventh or eighth century. This event is marked by their hair and eyes both turning white as snow. Many elves who spent their lives traveling or adventuring, or simply outside of elven lands, often make a pilgrimage to an elven community during this time, to live out the rest of their days with their kin. There are few visible signs of aging in an elf’s face, outside of a kind of alien majesty. Burial customs vary by culture. Religion Religion is a deeply personal aspect of an elf's life. All elves hear the legends of the gods when they are young, and all are exposed to clerics and rituals from an early age. What these traditions mean to an individual elf varies with his own experiences and mind-set. How services are organized, how strictly the holy words are followed and the prominence of religious leaders and places of worship varies by culture and community. Both pleasure and responsibility are less important than the young elf's spiritual progress. Elves do not draw a line between the everyday world and the realms of the gods and spirits. The spiritual touch of the Evanuris can be found in any place where elves live in harmony with nature. An elf does not simply listen to a priest tell him about his goddess; he goes into the wilderness to feel his goddess's breath on his skin, and to hear the words of wisdom whispered into his ears. Young elves are encouraged to spend hours in solitude out in the wild until they encounter the gods' spirit. The Brightness The moment of epiphany when an elf's spirit is opened up and their entire being is flooded with awareness of the divine is known as The Brightness. It is the pivotal moment in any elf's life. An elf does not describe it to anyone, even to his closest love or his own children, except in the vaguest terms. In many ways, they could not even if they wanted to. It is hard, then, to reliably say much about this instant of supreme mystery. Each elf seems to experience it differently. Despite the imaginings of certain non-elven scholars and artists, who picture the event as a grand vision of a glowing avatar of Correlon Larethian appearing to the quester, the moment is a profoundly subtle one in reality. The elf might come to know the gods by seeing an especially sublime pattern traced in the veins of a crumbling leaf, or in the knowledge of imminent power during a thunderstorm, or perhaps the touch of a white stag by a pool of still water. An elf spends her years of beryn fin (adolescence) in spiritual preparation for this moment, receiving tantalizing hints and premonitions of its true significance. It usually occurs during an elf's one-hundred and tenth year. Some elves, especially those who births were accompanied with auspicious signs and portents--such as those born with green or silver hair, or a birth in the wilderness--might experience The Brightness as soon as seventy or seventy-five. These individuals often go on to become great priests or priestesses, or mighty heroes (or terrible villains). A few unlucky souls find that the Brightness eludes them, usually because they're trying too hard to force the moment to occur. Most, after priestly counseling, experience the moment of the Brightness no more than a decade or two late. A rare few never taste it. Growing bitter and frustrated with the loving pity they receive from their neighbors, the Malawain, or "unawakened", often choose self-exile, leaving the world of the elves to settle in foreign cities or wander as rootless adventurers. Malawain rarely admit their status, even to those who couldn't care less about elven spiritual development (see: Dwarves). When an elf experiences the Brightness, she is transformed. They are declared to be in their summer, marking her newfound individuality by selecting a new name for herself. She has become an equal of any adult in the community. Myths and Folklore Elves have an extensive oral history, with legends, myths, poems and songs that are said to number twice that of the stars in the sky. The elves carefully preserve and pass down these stories from one generation to the next. Elves have raised storytelling to a high art and nearly everyone practices it. Many elven tales tell tragic tales of flawed heroes, forbidden love and sorrowful events of their past. The specifics tend to differ from clan to clan, but the one story all elves have in common is the tale of the Sylvani and the fall of the perfect order. While there are slight differences depending on the culture of the storyteller, the basic structure (especially names) always remains the same. The following version of the myth is the High Elf version of the myth. The Tragedy of Sylvani The elves have long held that they were the first mortal race to be created, or at least the first to be awakened. In a time long ago, the elves, who were called the Sylvani, first awoke in some number in a land across the sea, in a valley that was called Everembra, created for them by the goddess Correlon Larethian. She came to them there and blessed them, her children, with immortality. The only condition for this gift was they stay within the valley and they never take the lives of another Sylvani. Two of their number were chosen by them to be their leaders--Taiken and his younger brother, Aremo. For ages untold they dwelled in peace in that perfect place, walking its meadows, climbing its trees, eating of its fruit and splashing in the rivers that ran clear as crystals. But for all of their happiness, Aremo was not content and his heart yearned to climb out of Everembra and see what lay beyond its borders. So after some time, Aremo made to leave and brought with him 1/3 of their number to venture beyond the valley. They were met by Taiken along the way, who begged them not to go and to see reason, but Aremo rebuked him and left, bringing the 1/3 with him. Correlon appeared then and with great anger cast Aremo and his followers out of the valley forevermore, never again to return. She also took away their gift of eternal life for leaving the borders. Taiken wept with bitter tears as Aremo cursed the Sylvani and the Evanuri, and he and his followers disappeared into the night. It was not long after this that Aremo and his kin encountered a man, cloaked and hooded on the beach at the far shore of that nameless land, who offered them the power to seek revenge on the Evanuri and the Sylvani and destroy the valley of Everembra. In their hatred, Aremo and his kind accepted and followed the hooded man underground, unaware that he was truly Mishtar, the Fallen. In those dark caverns, he twisted those Sylvani and tortured them until they were no longer the beautiful creatures they had once been. Now their skin was black as ebony, their hair as white as snow and their eyes were red with malice. They were now named Drow, or "Fallen" in the Sylvan tongue. The drow ventured back to the surface and one dark night, they attack the valley, setting it alight. Taiken had been warned, however, by Correlon, who saw them coming. Taiken and his kin mounted a defense and in there was a battle in the valley that night, a great and terrible fight that cost the lives of many on both sides. In the end, the Drow were driven back below the surface, though at the cost of much blood. Despite their victory, they had still violated the second tenant of Correlon's word: to not take the life of another. For this, the remaining Sylvani lost their immortality and were forced to leave Everembra forever. But the gods took pity upon them and gave them boats and pointed them to a new land and a new home across the sea. The Sylvani boarded the ships and crossed the ocean, and after many moths there they found the land now called Athas, and of the first generation born in this land, they named the Sindari, or Elves in the common tongue. Ethnicities Elves adapt and change to meld with their surroundings, though not in the same way that a human might. The elves have a close connection with the natural world, which can cause various ethnicities to become quite divergent in appearance and outlook. Collectively, the elves refer to themselves as Tel-Quessir (which translates to “The People” in the common tongue). They refer to all non-elves as N’Tel-Quess; a less-than diplomatic elven expression meaning “not-people”. Many of Athas’ inhabitants believe there to be only two or three different ethnicities of elves, but there are at least six. Most common are the high elves and wood elves. The drow are easily the most notorious. Less well known are the grey elves and the sand elves, and the green elves who dwell in distant, remote, inhospitable regions that see few visitors. Despite the incredible diversity of the various elven subraces, all elves share a number of common characteristics. Perhaps the strongest thing they share is an affinity for magic. The use of magic tends to pervade elven society at every level, making most human lands see them as mysterious, suspicious or even dangerous. The most impressive examples of elven magic are the mythals, powerful fields of magic creates by the ancient elves to cloak their cities with protective and useful magical auras. Each ethnicity of the elven people has differing religious, cultural and even physical differences and traditions, so each will be discussed in separate articles. The six primary elven ethnicities are as follows: * Drow: '''The evil, subterranean race of elves who dwell in the Underdark, they are a twisted and vile people who worship the spider-goddess Llolth. * '''Green Elves: The elves who left Eregion and Athas proper to settle on the large, uninhabited island of Evaaruna to follow the “ancient ways”. They live in the heart of a thick, hot jungle and have very little, if any, contact with outsiders. * Grey Elves: 'The name given to the elves who did not participate in The Retreat and elected to remain in Eregion after it fell and became Azan. They are a people fraught with sorrow and anger, known for attacking Azani caravans in their faltering war to contain the darkness of Azan. * '''High Elves: '''The name given to the elves who settled in Eregion after the ''War of Wood & Stone. They are serene and known for producing highly adept wizards. They are generally seen as the most conservative and traditional of the elven groups (though this is still wildly unpredictable and liberal than most human societies). * '''Sand Elves: '''The elves that did not settle in Eregion, but chose to settle in the deserts of the south, particularly throughout Al-Kalim. They have darker complexions than their northern counterparts and live in nomadic clans. * '''Sun Elves: '''Elves that did not settle in Eregion, but chose to remain among the human lands in the west. Most dwell in cities established in human lands, in cultures that are a strange blend of high and wood elf society. * '''Wood Elves: '''The elves that did not settle in Eregion, instead choosing to remain in semi-nomadic clans in the forests and wild places throughout Athas. They are martially inclined and are known for their elaborate facial tattoos. New Game Stats '''Drow * +2 Dex, +2 Int, +2 Cha, -2 Con * Immune to Sleep spells and magical sleep effects, and they gain a +2 bonus vs. Enchantments spells and abilities. * +2 bonus to Listen, Search and Spot. A drow who passes within 5 feet of a secret or concealed door is entitled to a Search check to notice as if they were actively looking for it. * Darkvision - 120 ft. * Drow Magic: 'A drow with a WIS of 13 or higher can use the following spell-like abilities once per day: ''Dancing Lights, Darkness, ''and ''Faerie Fire. * 'Light Blindness: '''Abrupt exposure to bright light (such as sunlight or a ''Daylight spell) blinds a drow for 1 round. In subsequent rounds, they are dazzled so long as they remain in the affected area. * '''Weapon Familiarity: '''Drows are proficient with hand-crossbows, rapiers, whips and shortswords. '''Green Elves * +2 Dex, -2 Int; they are hardier than other elves but are not as learned as their kin. * Immune to Sleep spells and magical sleep effects, and they gain a +2 bonus vs. Enchantments spells and abilities. * Low-Light Vision * +2 bonus to Listen, Search and Spot. An elf who passes within 5 feet of a secret or concealed door is entitled to a Search check to notice as if they were actively looking for it. * Green Elf Magic: '''Select any three orisons from the Druid spell list. You may cast them each once per day as a spell-like ability. * '''Weapon Familiarity: '''Proficient with shortbows, longbows, shortswords, longswords and scimitars. Additionally, they may treat any weapon with the word "elf" in its name as a martial weapon. '''Grey Elves * +2 Dex, -2 Con * Immune to Sleep spells and magical sleep effects, and they gain a +2 bonus vs. Enchantments spells and abilities. * Low-Light Vision * +2 bonus to Listen, Search and Spot. * Hide and Move Silently are permanent class skills for you. * Weapon Familiarity: 'Proficient with shortbows, longbows, shortswords, longswords and glaives. Additionally, they may treat any weapon with the word "elf" in its name as a martial weapon. * '''Sense Evil: '''You can cast ''Detect Evil once per day as an extraordinary ability. This replaces the ability to detect secret doors. '''High Elves * +2 Dex or Int, -2 Con * Immune to Sleep spells and magical sleep effects, and they gain a +2 bonus vs. Enchantments spells and abilities. * Low-Light Vision * +2 bonus to Listen, Search and Spot. An elf who passes within 5 feet of a secret or concealed door is entitled to a Search check to notice as if they were actively looking for it. * +2 to any Knowledge check of their choice. * Elven Magic: '''You may receive a +2 racial bonus on caster level checks made to overcome spell resistance, in addition to a +2 bonus on Spellcraft checks. '''Sand Elves * +2 Dex, -2 Int; they are every bit as graceful and agile as their northern kin, but they are a bit more limited in their understanding of the world around them, having experience with little more than their own domains. * Immune to Sleep spells and magical sleep effects, and they gain a +2 bonus vs. Enchantments spells and abilities. * Low-Light Vision * +2 bonus to Listen, Search and Spot. An elf who passes within 5 feet of a secret or concealed door is entitled to a Search check to notice as if they were actively looking for it. * Weapon Familiarity: '''Proficient with shortbows, longbows, shortswords, longswords and rapiers. Additionally, they may treat any weapon with the word "elf" in its name as a martial weapon. * '''Desert Runner: Sand elves thrive in the deepest deserts, forever roaming across burned and parched lands. They gain a +4 racial bonus to CON checks and Fortitude saves to avoid fatigue, exhaustion or ill effects from running, forced marches, starvation, thirst or hot environments. Sun Elves * +2 Dex, -2 Con * Immune to Sleep spells and magical sleep effects, and they gain a +2 bonus vs. Enchantments spells and abilities. * Low-Light Vision * +2 bonus to Listen, Search and Spot. An elf who passes within 5 feet of a secret or concealed door is entitled to a Search check to notice as if they were actively looking for it. * Weapon Familiarity: '''Proficient with shortbows, longbows, shortswords, longswords and rapiers. Additionally, they may treat any weapon with the word "elf" in its name as a martial weapon. * '''Fleet-Footed: '''Base land speed becomes 35 ft. and a +2 bonus on Initiative checks. '''Wood Elves * +2 Dex, -2 Con * Immune to Sleep spells and magical sleep effects, and they gain a +2 bonus vs. Enchantments spells and abilities. * Low-Light Vision * +2 bonus to Listen, Search and Spot. An elf who passes within 5 feet of a secret or concealed door is entitled to a Search check to notice as if they were actively looking for it. * +2 bonus to Survival and Handle Animal checks. * '''Weapon Familiarity: '''Proficient with shortbows, longbows, shortswords, longswords and rapiers. Additionally, they may treat any weapon with the word "elf" in its name as a martial weapon.